7. The English Revolutionised Crying

Religious tears became increasingly associated with Puritans and later the Nonconformists; Oliver Cromwell was one who would cry in public. As a result, the idea of a man crying became far less acceptable to royalists and Anglicans, who came to associate spiritual tears with fanaticism and hypocrisy. Attitudes hardened after the Restoration and, as some commentators observed, since every individual had a different constitution, an abundance of tears provided no guide to genuine emotion.